Mikel Arteta admitted the Premier League title was still out of Arsenal's hands despite closing the gap on league leaders Liverpool after their 3-1 win over Brentford.
The Gunners moved within six points of Arne Slot's side on Wednesday, with goals from Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli canceling out Bryan Mbeumo's opener.
Arsenal even won an away match in the Premier League, falling 1-0 behind Aston Villa (4-2) for the first time since February 2023, further underlining their title credentials.
And Arteta's side were worthy of their victory, with an expected goals total (xG) of 1.95 from their 14 attempts, compared to Brentford's 0.29 from their two attempts.
Supercomputer Opta gives Arsenal just a 9.5% chance of winning their first Premier League title since 2003-04, and Arteta seemingly agreed with that prediction.
“We can only win our next match and see what happens. It's not in our hands, but what we have in our hands, we have to make sure we do it,” Arteta said.
But Arteta did not play down the magnitude of their latest victory, while also heaping praise on goalscorers Jesus and Martinelli, who have found their form in recent weeks.
Jesus has now scored six goals in his last four Arsenal appearances in all competitions – the same as his previous 48 before that.
The Brazilian also scored in consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since April 2023.
Martinelli, meanwhile, has scored in three of his last four away games in the Premier League (three goals), more than his previous 26 appearances in the competition beforehand (two goals).
“Very good timing, both, very important. It is a great quality of our team to share the goals throughout the team,” Arteta said.
“Today we did it again and scored in three very different ways. It's great, that's what we need. People at the front have to shoot, they have to have that feeling, and they have that feeling now.
“They are so consistent in the way they behave, they train, they want it and goals are also about moments and about the feeling and energy a player is in at the moment. They are in a good mood at the moment .”
Thomas Frank, meanwhile, said the outcome was decided by the narrowest of margins, with a cumulative total of defensive errors playing a role in all three of Arsenal's goals.
Mark Fleks squandered Thomas Partey's attempt for Jesus to level before a failure to clear the ball around the area in the second half was punished by the Gunners.
Since the start of last season, the Bees have lost 47 points in gaining positions in the Premier League (30 last season, 17 this), at least 10 more than any other side.
They are also the only team to keep a clean sheet at home in the Premier League this season. In addition, Brentford has gone eleven consecutive home games without a shutout for the first time since October 2007 (13).
“I think we did a lot of things well and overall it was a good performance. The first half was fantastic and I liked the way we played – we were brave with the ball,” said Frank.
“We were also brave under the high pressure and overall I think we did well. With the best margins we have to do better.
“We have to do better than one more goal. If you want to beat Arsenal, we have to do everything right.”
Comments